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MOERAN In the Mountain Country Rhapsodies Overture for a Masque Benjamin Frith, Piano Ulster Orchestra •JoAnn Falletta Ernest John Moeran (1894-1950): Overture for a Masque · In the Mountain Country Mountain Country by just one year, it is noticeably a more scoring was the result of a suggestion, made some years First Rhapsody · Second Rhapsody · Rhapsody in F sharp major sophisticated work melodically, structurally and in terms earlier, from Arnold Bax that Moeran should write a work of orchestration. Containing most of the work’s main for Harriet Cohen to play. Cohen, the dedicatee, gave the Of Anglo-Irish descent, Ernest John Moeran was brought Overture for a Masque was written in the Welsh material, a serene, ruminative slow introduction features first performance, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra up in Norfolk and the scenery and folk-music of Ireland Marches during the winter of 1943-1944 to a commission muted strings laced with woodwind phrases interrupted by under Sir Adrian Boult, at a Promenade Concert at and Norfolk were a lasting influence on him. Studies at the by Walter Legge, then working for the Entertainments a busy, heavily accented figure on wind and lower strings. London’s Royal Albert Hall in August 1943. Later it was Royal College of Music were interrupted by the 1914- National Service Association (ENSA), for a spirited ten- These two contrasting ideas are developed throughout successfully championed by the pianist Iris Loveridge, 1918 War, in which he served on the Western Front, minute piece to be performed at concerts for the troops the piece in a sequence of variations which includes a whose interpretation of the solo part Moeran preferred, sustaining serious head injuries that affected him during World War Two. Consequently Moeran’s intention languid, pastoral-sounding interlude. After a grand climax, writing to Lionel Hill on 23rd September 1944 that she had physically and mentally for the rest of his life. After the war in this work is primarily to entertain: in a letter to Peers the evocative opening woodwind calls over hushed ‘made a new work of it’. Cast in one movement divided into he resumed a passion for collecting folk-songs and began Coetmore the composer expressed the belief that he had strings return and the piece fades back into the nebulous, three main sections, the Third Rhapsody is unashamedly to study privately with the composer John Ireland. Also at made it ‘snappy and exciting’ for his intended audience. otherworldly region from where it emerged. Though a popular in style, with an appealing tunefulness doubtless this time he developed a close friendship with Philip The relationship of this energetic overture to a masque is reviewer writing in The Musical Times in August 1925 intended to cheer up wartime audiences. The omission of Heseltine, who wrote music under the name of Peter not obvious, its structure being closer to that of a pageant described it as being based on folk-tunes, no such pre- an introductory paragraph is the first indication that this is Warlock. Both men were strongly attracted to Delius’s or sequence of themes, nearly all of which stem from the existing melodies have ever been identified so it may be one of the composer’s most tightly-knit works, its basic compositions which, together with those of Bax and opening fanfare-like flourish. Written to order as a assumed that, once again, the material is all original. material derived from three inter-related themes. The outer Sibelius, had a significant impact on Moeran’s own output. diverting curtain-raiser, it fulfils its brief with dash and Rhapsody No. 2 was commissioned by and first sections have the character of a lively waltz, whilst the As a composer Moeran was a late developer. He style, driven by syncopated rhythms. Yet Moeran also performed at the 1924 Norfolk and Norwich Centenary central episode conveys a nostalgic, introspective mood tackled most of traditional musical forms with the notable finds room for a moment of introspective poetry in the Festival. In 1941 Moeran rescored it for slightly reduced typical of Moeran. All three principal ideas are developed exceptions of opera and cantata but, despite the early lyrical, folk-like episode which occurs just before the orchestral forces. Less intricate in its formal scheme than and varied throughout the course of the piece which ends promise of such works as the central Elegy from his three music gathers strength for the grand peroration. its predecessor, and not as subtly scored, the Second in a brilliant coda surely designed to rouse a Prom piano pieces entitled Fancies (1922), he did not achieve Believed to be Moeran’s first orchestral work, the Rhapsody is nonetheless an attractive work. It is most audience to cheers. Though the solo part is written with a widespread critical and public success until the late 1930s tone-poem In the Mountain Country was designated by notable for a profusion of melodies derived from both substantial degree of virtuosity and the work contains with his Symphony in G minor. In the wake of this the composer a Symphonic Impression. Dedicated to the Norfolk and Ireland. A jaunty opening theme has strong several cadenza-like opportunities for pianistic display, the achievement he produced a series of major pieces, Irish conductor and composer Sir Hamilton Harty, it was associations with a Norfolk folk-tune, whilst several jig-like orchestra is by no means entirely subjugated and is including the Violin Concerto, the Cello Concerto, the given its première in November 1921 at the Royal College ideas and the broad melody at the heart of the work are all rewarded with numerous instances of solo writing for Sinfonietta and the Cello Sonata. In 1945 he married the of Music, while Moeran was still a student there. Though unmistakably Irish in character. After this lyrical central various instruments. A great success from the outset, the Irish cellist Peers Coetmore. Their union was the work sounds like a collection of folk-songs – a interlude, a livelier vein is recaptured as the initial material Third Rhapsody was performed on several occasions in its unsuccessful, exacerbated by his constant drinking and ‘rhapsody’ in all but name – the material is all original. is reworked. Following a slight broadening of tempo for a first few years. Reviewing the first performance, The her enforced absences due to extensive touring. Moeran’s There are three sections, in which a fast and energetic final, fragmented reminiscence of the opening theme, this Times’ critic concluded, presciently, that, “The new work final years, spent in Ireland, were dogged by ill-health. On centrepiece is encased by two more measured direct and straightforward work is brought to a fittingly will win him [Moeran] respect from the general public, and a stormy night in December 1950 a witness saw him fall paragraphs. Elements introduced at the outset, a clarinet trenchant conclusion with a couple of emphatic chords for something more from those who like their music from the pier at Kenmare and, on his recovery from the melody leading into a lilting theme for strings, are later full orchestra. unemphatic in manner, thoughtful by nature, and lyrical in water, he was found to be dead, apparently from a developed in the central section. Though this work dates Uniquely among his series of pieces in the medium, expression.” cerebral haemorrhage following a heart attack. from the beginning of the composer’s career, it is still Moeran’s Third Rhapsody, in F sharp major, takes the This programme consists of Moeran’s sole published entirely characteristic, suggesting that he found his own form of a concertante piece for piano and orchestra. This Paul Conway overture and four Rhapsodies, three named examples authentic musical voice at an early stage in his creative and one unaccredited prototype, which are rhapsodic in development. content rather than form, their melodic exuberance Dedicated to Moeran’s teacher, John Ireland, the contained within taut and concise structures. Inventive First Rhapsody also belongs to the composer’s student scoring and formal mastery are distinguishing features of years and was first performed at a Patron’s Fund Concert all five works presented here. at the RCM in 1922. Even though it postdates In the Benjamin Frith Ulster Orchestra Benjamin Frith was encouraged by his teacher, Dame Photo: Harrison Photography Fanny Waterman, to pursue a musical career after winning the Dudley National Concerto Competition aged fourteen. Since then he has been a first prizewinner in the Rubinstein Piano Masters Competition where he was also awarded the special prize for chamber music, and was awarded top prize in the Busoni International Piano Competition. With acclaim for his American and Edinburgh Festival débuts, he established himself as an international concert artist, and has given recitals and concerto performances throughout Europe, Northern America, India, Kazakhstan and the Far East. He has appeared with many of the world’s finest orchestras including the Berlin Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Warsaw Philharmonic, Hallé, the BBC orchestras, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, and the Royal Philharmonic, and with such conductors as Zubin Mehta, Antoni Wit, Tamás Vásáry, Stanisław Skrowaczewski, Matthias Bamert, Moshe Atzmon, Gianandrea Noseda and Sir Mark Elder. His diverse repertoire ranges from Scarlatti to James Macmillan and includes over fifty concertos, and much praise has been bestowed on his recordings. Frith’s enjoyment of chamber music has been fulfilled through his performances and recordings as pianist in the Gould Piano Trio and the formation of his own Piano Quartet. Ulster Orchestra’s mission is to enrich life through music and since its beginnings in 1966, it has brought people from all backgrounds and walks of life through an exciting and diverse musical journey.

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